Diodati to ‘hit the refresh button’ with address
Mayor Jim Diodati plans to focus very little on where the city has been and key in on where the city plans to go when he addresses a sold-out crowd for his state of the city address Wednesday.
“We hit the refresh button on the state of the city and we thought we’ll go in a little bit of a different direction with the message we’re delivering,” said Diodati.
In past years, the address to the business community has focused as heavily on the city’s accomplishments during the past year as much as it has on priorities moving forward.
Diodati said when he became mayor in 2010, he and council put a 10-year plan together.
“It’s kind of refining the vision and also what people can expect for the second half of the (council) term and … some things that maybe were missed or overlooked and also some new developments that were not anticipated.” Diodati said he doesn’t want Wednesday’s address to “just be a report card” or to dwell on past announcements such as the south Niagara hospital, GO train and entertainment theatre.
“Of course, I’m going to give a brief update on those because we have to, but … I’m going to spend very little time highlighting what we’ve done. Everyone has read enough about where we’re at with those and we’ve had some pretty amazing success. I’m pretty proud of what this council has been able to accomplish, so I’m excited about some new directions and I’m anxious to see how people are going to receive it.”
Wednesday’s address will take place at the Americana Conference Resort & Spa on Lundy’s Lane. Registration will be at 11:30 a.m., with lunch at noon. Parking is free to attendees.
Carey Campbell, Diodati’s executive assistant, said the last tickets were scooped up in record time, a week before the event. They went on sale Jan. 27.
She said the guest list sits at a record 520 people and there is a “wait list at the chamber of commerce for others still hoping for a seat.”
The event is hosted by Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce.
Dolores Fabiano, executive director of the chamber, said it was known “pretty early on” the event was going to sell out.
“Our events person … told us right from the get-go this is going to sell out and it’s going to sell out quick,” she said.
“Two weeks ago we actually sent out a notice to our own directors saying, ‘If you guys want to be there, you gotta let us know ASAP or you won’t be able to get a ticket.’”
Fabiano said interest in the event shows that “so many people in the community want to hear what (the mayor) has to say and are interested in the state of things in Niagara Falls.”
Diodati said he’s “very humbled” by the growing response to the event.
“Maybe they’re all waiting to see how bad I mess up,” he quipped.
Diodati said he once again plans to bring his own brand of “politainment” to the event.
“I like to have a little bit of fun … and try to keep it entertaining,” he said.
“Politics can be dry and I try to … keep it interesting and keep people engaged. We don’t want their eyes to glaze over.”
Diodati said he does not plan to make any major surprise announcements, but he will be “unveiling some information and some real interesting updates on strategic direction.”
“We’ve got some great tools in the tool box and we’re going to put them to good use in a way that not too many municipalities can do. We’ve been putting a lot of work the last year into strategic positioning of the city going forward and I’m just excited to share that with everybody.”